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1991 San Francisco Runway Collision
America's Deadliest Air Accident On 12 May 1991, two Boeing 747-400s collided on the runway at San Fransisco International Airport, California, USA, during poor visibilty and stormy weather. The collision claimed the lives of 386 people making it the deadliest air crash in both Orbit Airlines', Pacifica's and America's history. The forecast for San Fransisco International Airport was not good that day, Stormy weather mixed with bad visibility and heavy rains. Pilots were concerned about diverting to their alternates and two of those pilots were Captain John McHoy of Orbit Airlines Flight 47 from Tokyo Narita to San Fransico and Captain Harald von Enckland of Pacifica Airlines Flight 141 from Frankfurt, Germany, to San Francisco. Both were concerned about the bad weather, but decided to proceed to land at the airport. About 3 hours later, the already-bad weather got even worse, with very low visibility, nearly at the minimums. Both planes, the Orbit now being Orbit Airlines Flight 1330 to Paris Charles-de-Gaulle, France, with a stop-over at John F. Kennedy, New York and the Pacifica now being Pacifica Airlines Flight 142 returning back to Frankfurt, were eager to get off the ground as fast as possible. When the crash happened, the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) was quick to respond and send two investigators to find out what happened. The investigation revealed that the flight crew of Pacifica Airlines Flight 142 had never flown to San Fransisco before and was completely new to flying the 747s. That combined with outdated charts made it nearly impossible for the crew of flight 142 to know where they were taxiing. The investigators also found out that the storm had delayed transmissions from the planes to the radar, leading the controllers to believe that the planes were in fact 30 seconds ahead of what they believed. Ultimately, Pacifica Airlines were blamed for the crash and financially compensated the victims' relatives. The radar at San Fransisco was also blamed for some parts leading up to the crash, The radar was within one month replaced with a more modern radar that performed much better in bad weather conditions like this. Pacifica Airlines faced a big financial crisis after the crash and was losing money. Eventually, the airline gained control of their financial status and started operations to San Fransico again, now with up to date charts and better trained crews. Orbit Airlines also faced some financial problems. This was the fourth 747-400 they had recieved and they were not able to buy more of them, meaning that they had to use their older 747-100/200s. Eventually, also Orbit Airlines got the crisis under control and were able to buy more 747-400s. Disaster Flight Crew Onboard Orbit Airlines Flight 1330, was 61-year-old Captain John McHoy, 53-year-old First Officer Frank Jeffrey Thomson and a third pilot, First Officer Mike Jackson at the age of 38, who was flying with them to New York. Together (without the third pilot) they had over 31,000 flight hours in total, with the third pilot having 5,935 flight hours, leaving the crew with over 36,000 flight hours all together. A very experienced crew who had flown in to San Fransisco countless times. On Pacifica Airlines Flight 142 was Captain Harald von Enckland and First Officer Henrik Bauer. Together they had over 17,000 hours of experience, but they only had about 1,000 hours in the 747. This was also their first time flying in to San Fransisco. Investigators later discovered that this played a critical part, leading to the accident. Diversion to and back from Los Angeles As mentioned previously, both captains were very concerned about the bad weather surrounding the airport, the weather had come from the pacific and it was not unheard of that bad weather would sweep in over the airport. Both captains knew that a plane in bad weather can be very dangerous, especially in weather conditions like this. Captain Harald von Enckland decided to land at San Fransisco, but the request got rejected by ATC (Air Traffic Control) because of the airport being shut down. An American Pacific Airways Dash 8-100 had made a hard landing at the airport, injuring 6 passengers. Because of the low visibility, the aircraft had not been able to see the runway in time to flare, thus leading to the incident. The Pacifica Airlines plane was given directions to its alternate airport of Los Angeles Int'l. But the captain knew it could have bad consequences for the airline. Harald asked ATC (Air Traffic Control) if he could circle around the airport, until it opened again. Again it was rejected by Air Traffic Control. At the same time, Orbit Airlines Flight 47 was arriving at the airport. It was also redirected to Los Angeles. Captain John McHoy and First Officer Frank J. Thomson, who was also a captain, but had the role of First Officer on this flight, could clearly hear on the radio, that Pacifica Airlines 141 was getting very annoyed about not being able to land at San Fransisco. Shortly after, Los Angeles air traffic control said that planes that had diverted to Los Angeles, could now return to San Fransisco. Eight planes decided to head back to San Fransisco, and the rest decided not to return. Two of those planes were Pacifica 141 and Orbit 47. Taxiing and takeoff preparations The Controllers cleared the Orbit plane to taxi via Alpha, Foxtrot and wait for takeoff clearence from the tower, which they followed to the threshold of the runway, where they asked for takeoff clearence. Because of the delay on the radar, the controllers thought that the plane had asked for takeoff clearence before it got to the runway, so they told him to stand by. At the same time, Pacifica Airlines Flight 142 was cleared to taxi to the runway, following the same route as Orbit Airlines 1330. Pacifica 142 taxied along taxiway F (Foxtrot) but got confused, because of the outdated charts and missed the turn, where Foxtrot continued and was now on Taxiway J (Juliet). Because of the radar freezing, the Orbit plane's takeoff had been delayed by about 2 minutes, but by now the radar unfreezed and Orbit 1330 was then cleared for takeoff and rolled onto the runway. At the same time, Pacifica 142 missed the turn onto F (Foxtrot) and continued onto the runway. Weather at San Francisco The weather at the moment was turning worse and the airport would soon close again, making both airplanes eager to takeoff. The visibility was barely at minimums for a 747, and the wind was hitting the airport from all directions. The storm had already at that moment killed 2 and injured more that 100 people. The Orbit Airlines crew was considering if they should wait and see if the weather cleared up before taking off, or if they should take off now, when they had the chance. In the cockpit now joining them, was a first officer, sitting in the jumpseat. His name was Mike Jackson who was catching a ride to New York. He recommended that they should takeoff now when they had the chance. This dicision proved to be fatal. Collision When Orbit Airlines 1330 set takeoff thrust, the Pacifica Airlines plane had just entered the runway. Because of the radar delay, the air traffic controllers had no idea that the Pacifica plane had made a wrong turn and was currently on the runway. The Pacifica Airlines crew, Captain Harald von Enckland and First Officer Henrik Bauer became confused with the situation and looked after taxiways to exit the runway. At that moment, Air Traffic Control noticed on the radar that the Pacifica airplane had made a wrong turn, and according to the CVR (Cockpit Voice Recorder) and the tape given to the investigators by the controller after the crash, the controllers informed the plane that they had made a wrong turn, but in the cockpit, the crew was too distracted to hear the message. While The Orbit Airlines crew was taking off, they overheard this message and the two pilots looked at each other, and according to the CVR, Captain McHoy said: "Damn! What if he is on the runway?" At the same time Mike Jackson, sitting in the jumpseat, yelled: "Look there he is!" and First Officer Thomson followed with: "Oh god!" and "Pull up!" which he continued to say until the two planes collided. Meanwhile, in the cockpit of the Pacifica Airlines, Captain von Enckland had noticed the other plane, some time before the Orbit noticed him. He quickly said: "Shit! He's coming straight at us! Damnit!" Before applying full power and making a turn to the right. The weight of the planes made it hard to pull up and in Pacifica 142's case, to turn, delaying their actions by quite a bit. The Orbit Airlines plane started to rotate, with a tailstrike it lifted of the ground, just before collision. The number 2 engine, situated on the left wing, hit the Pacifica 747's upper deck, causing it to rip off and killing the two pilots and 13 other passengers and crew sitting in the upper deck first-class cabin, while the right wing hit the tailfin, which severely damaged the ailerons on the wing, causing the plane to veer off to the right. The pilots tried to correct it, but the plane started banking to the other direction, before hitting a hangar, killing everyone on board the plane, 10 people on the ground at the General Aviation Ramp, and destroyed a Beechcraft Baron 58 and a Cessna 172RG. The Pacifica planes' engines had been rendered nonfunctional from debris ingestion, but a fire had started where the upper deck had been, however it did not spread very fast, and many of the passengers who had survived the collision were able to either jump out of the plane or jump down the slides. All in all 386 people had been killed and 241 survived. The fire on the Pacifica plane had started spreading quickly after the evacuation and the plane burned down. Cockpit Communications These are the words spoken from the pilots of both airplanes during the accident, taken from the cockpit voice recorders. * 11:43:02 OBA FIRST OFFICER: "'OBA1330 ready for takeoff runway 28L" * 11:43:07 '''KSFO GND: '"OBA1330, ah... Standby" * 11:43:15 'OBA CAPTAIN: '"Well... Guess we are gonna have to wait." * 11:45:36 'AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL: '"Okay... OBA1330 Cleared for takeoff, caution visibility is near zero." * 11:45:43 'OBA CAPTAIN: '"Cleared for takeoff runway 28L, OBA1330 * 11:45:44 'PA CAPTAIN: '''We're on Taxiway Foxtrot, right?" * 11:45:50 '''PA FIRST OFFICER: '"Yes, I believe so." * 11:45:59 'PA CAPTAIN: '"No, now we're on the runway..." * 11:46:29 ''ATC SEES THE PA PLANE IS TAXIING THE WRONG WAY'' * 11:46:34 'KSFO GND: '"PAS142, It was a left turn on F, be advised B744 currently taking off" * 11:46:38 'PA FIRST OFFICER: '"Look, isn't that the plane taking off?" * 11:46:40 'PA CAPTAIN: '"Shit! He's coming straight at us! Dammit!" * 11:46:45 PAS142 CVR RECORDS ENGINES SPOOLING UP * 11:46:51 'OBA CAPTAIN: '"Damn! What if he is on the runway?" * 11:46:53 'OBA FIRST OFFICER: '"He might be, he might not be... 80 knots." * 11:47:01 'OBA MIKE JACKSON: '"Look, there he is!" * 11:47:02 'OBA FIRST OFFICER: '"Oh god! Rotate! Rotate!" * 11:47:04: 'OBA FIRST OFFICER: ' "Pull up!" * 11:47:07 'PA CAPTAIN: "'Oh, holy shit! Get off!" * 11:47:09 '''PA CAPTAIN & FIRST OFFICER: "FUCK!!" * 11:47:11 PAS142 CVR RECORDS SOUND OF COLLISION AND CUTS OFF * 11:47:10 OBA1330 CVR RECORDS SOUND OF COLLISION * 11:47:12 OBA MIKE JACKSON: '"We hit him! Shit, full power!" * 11:47:13 ''OBA1330 CVR RECORDS SOUND OF ENGINES 3&4 AT HIGH RPM * 11:47:14 'OBA FIRST OFFICER: '"Fuck! We gotta get higher up, or we will crash into the hills!" * 11:47:17 'OBA UNKNOWN: '"We're banking hard right!" * 11:47:20 'OBA UNKNOWN: '"We gotta get higher!" * 11:47:22 '''OBA FIRST OFFICER: "Banking left now! Pull up!" * 11:47:22 GPWS: 'Terrain Ahead! * 11:47:23 '''GPWS: 'Whoop Pull Up! * 11:47:24 'OBA CAPTAIN: '"I can't pull up!!" * 11:47:25 'OBA MIKE JACKSON: '"Jesus fucking Christ!!" * 11:47:26 OBA1330 RECORDS SOUND OF IMPACT * 11:47:27 OBA1330 CVR CUTS OFF Investigation '''Post-accident When the crash happened, the only clues that something collision had happened was a loud bang and the two planes missing on the radar screen. Without even thinking about it, the controller, Kevin Anderson, picked up the emergency call phone and said that there was a possible emergency on runway 28L, with two Boeing 747s involved. The bad weather made it hard for the fire crew to locate the planes but eventually they found the Pacifica plane burning and started with that. A group of fire trucks then headed up the runway and eventually found the wreckage of three planes and a hangar in flames. The investigators were not able to get to the crash site and had to wait for the weather to clear op. On the May 24th, the day after the crash, it was already headlines all over the world. The investigators had to be quick, because the victims' families and the world, demanded answers. Possible Causes The investigators had some possible causes to consider, before they could get the flight recorders out of the wreckage of both planes. One: the pilot of the Orbit plane, Captain McHoy could have misunderstood a message from the tower controller, thinking he might have been given a takeoff clearance, when he in fact hadn't, due to a previous accident. Two: the Pacifica plane had been given a false taxi route by the ground controller, making them taxi in front of the departing Orbit plane. Both causes were ruled out after the investigators listened to the tapes, that had been given to them by the controllers on-duty that day. And when they get the flight recorders from the planes, it was clear what had happened. The data recovered from the flight recorders clearly showed "t''hat the Pacifica Airlines crew was confused and taxied on to the runway, believing that they were following their assigned taxi route''." They discovered, a little after, the charts the Pacifica crew were using, were outdated by 2 months. And when they later discovered, that it was the crews first time flying in to San Fransisco, the investigators were confused about who to blame. Pacifica Airlines Denial When the NTSB concluded that it was the Pacifica Airlines crews fault and they released their final report on the crash, Pacifica Airlines strongly denied it. They were blaming the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) for making false evidence, so that the investigation would be over quicker. NTSB Investigators were stunned when they saw this, and quickly responded with: "We have not given any false evidence to complete the investigation quickly. Our job is to solve the case completely, so that accidents, like this, would never happen again." Pacifica still denied that they were to blame. But two months later, on 1 August 1991, Pacifica Airlines surrendered to the media, calling them a bad airline, and America's denial for them to fly any routes in and out of the USA. The airline paid their dues and proceeded to pay the victim's families' compensation. However, the accident and follow-up payments caused the airlines fleet to be grounded for six weeks, and the airline lost several millions of dollars. Pacifica Airlines went into a financial crisis in 1992 and nearly went bankrupt. The airline got the crisis under control and survived the accident's aftermath. Aircraft Orbit Airlines Flight 1330 Date: '12 May 1991 '''Operator: 'Orbit Airlines '''Aircraft: '''B744 (Boeing 747-400) '''Registration: '''N678LT '''Passengers: '''361 '''Crew: '''10 '''Origin: '''San Fransisco International Airport '''Destination: '''Paris Charles-de-Gaulle (With a stopover at New York JFK Airport) '''Survivors: '''0 '''Fatalities: '''371 '''Pacifica Airlines Flight 142 Date: '12 May 1991 '''Operator: 'Pacifica Airlines '''Aircraft: '''B744 (Boeing 747-400) '''Registration: '''D-ABVM '''Passengers: '''245 '''Crew: '''11 '''Origin: '''San Fransico International Airport '''Destination: '''Frankfurt am Main International Airport '''Survivors: '''241 '''Fatalities: '''15 Aftermath '''Orbit Airlines Crisis After the crash had happened, Orbit Airlines lost a lot of money and were not able to buy the newer Boeing 747-400s and had to use their older Boeing 747-100/200s, which could not travel as long as the -400s. This meant more stopovers on flight, and longer flights. This was the fourth 747-400 delivered to Orbit Airlines and their sudden crisis meant that Orbit Airlines couldn't make money. They had to fire 45 pilots, who they rehired after the crisis. This meant that the airlines could get a little more money out of it. They were also planning on selling their 747, which they wanted to do, but they never did it. They still didn't have enough money to buy the 747-400s, but after two years of hard working, the Airline had money enough to buy the rest of the ordered Boeing 747s Improvements Pacifica Airlines, after the crash, improved a lot of things. They never gave pilots outdated charts again and they trained pilots how to handle confusion in stormy weather and thick fog. Pacifica Airlines were able to improve it's safety record massivly. The radar at San Fransisco was only fixed, so that the radar could handle traffic better in bad weather. But the FAA (Federal Aviation Adminstration) ordered the radars at San Fransisco Airport to be replaced with newer ones. This was completed in 1992 and San Fransisco didn't have a accident again, involving the radar system. Images Category:Orbit Airlines Accidents and Incidents